PETALING JAYA: A video of a 27-year-old girl allegedly assaulted by a taxi driver at a petrol station at Jalan Persiaran Kayangan in Section 7 Shah Alam has gone viral on social media. According to Shah Alam police chief ACP Azisman Alias, the incident happened on March 29 and started after an accident between their cars at about 3.30pm. Azisman added that both the girl and the cabbie lodged police reports at Shah Alam police station and the girl's father who also turned up later at the police station assaulted the taxi driver.

— AFP picKUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Ninety three per cent of Malaysians are prepared to leave the country in search of jobs and experience, according to a new employment survey that has dire implications on Malaysia’s chronic brain drain. In its regional survey, recruitment firm Hays found that just seven per cent of Malaysians would not move abroad for better job prospects, career advancement or better lifestyles. This mobility is compounded by a previous Hays study that showed five per cent of the Malaysian workforce exited the country annually, with Singapore being the prime destination.

– Reuters pic, March 31, 2015.National coaches Rashid Sidek and Rosman Razak have decided to not renew their contracts which ended today, despite a review of salary by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM). BAM technical director Morten Frost Hansen said the coaches had made the decision after receiving better offers from other parties. "From the BAM part, we would like to thank both the coaches for having done a great job over the years and wish them all the best and good luck for the future," he said in a press conference at the Malaysia Open Premier Super Series at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil today. "She (Pek Siah) is actually an experienced coach, she has experience in Japan as well as some international exposure.

KUALA LUMPUR: The retail prices of RON95, RON97 and diesel for April 2015 remain unchanged, according to the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism (MDTCC) yesterday.The price of RON95 is unchanged at RM1.95 per litre, RON97 at RM2.25

— Picture by Choo Choy MayKUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Umno member Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah urged journalists today to continue reporting without fear or favour despite the arrest of four journalists from news portal The Malaysian Insider (TMI) and their publisher for sedition. Saifuddin, who is currently a columnist and used to be an editor, also said that things have gone from “bad to worse” now, amid a slew of investigations under the Sedition Act 1948 against opposition politicians and social activists as well. “This persecution might affect some, but my plea is, please be steadfast,” Saifuddin told Malay Mail Online.

IPOH: The third term of the 13th state assembly sitting started on the wrong footing when 26 Pakatan Rakyat (PR) assemblymen wore black suits instead of the ceremonial dress, which was officiated by the Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Muizuddin Shah here today. Clearly unhappy with the turn of events, Sultan Nazrin even snubbed the traditional group photography session with the elected representatives from PR and Barisan Nasional. After delivering his speech, he left the state secetariat building. All the 31 BN assemblymen attended the opening session in their ceremonial dress.

— Picture by Malay MailKUALA PILAH, March 31 — Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Hasan Malek today denied a Facebook report that he was stepping down following the hike in petrol prices tomorrow. Hasan claimed certain quarters had falsified his Facebook account, and had put in the entry that he would resign if the prices of petrol (RON95, RON97 and diesel) go up on April 1. "I hope the people can evaluate and do not believe the report," he told reporters after a ceremony to hand over aid to the Village Development and Security Committees in the Kuala Pilah Parliamentary constituency here, today. According to the report, "Datuk Seri Hasan Malek gives his assurance there would be no hike in the prices of petrol and diesel soon, despite a slight increase of the fuels in the market.

— Picture by Saw Siow FengKUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — The federal government may face a backlash from the perceived "excessive" arrests and sedition probe of news portal The Malaysian Insider's (TMI) editors, Umno MP Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said today. Nur Jazlan said he believed TMI's report was just an "honest mistake" that could have been dealt with a defamation suit by the Conference of Rulers, instead of a sedition probe. "If the public thinks this arrest shouldn't have been done because of the mistake in the story that could have been dealt with other laws, then there will be a negative perception on government," the Pulai MP told reporters in Parliament when asked if the arrests were meant to intimidate journalists. "But for editors of Insider to be hauled in, arrested and put in jail for a story which I think is an error, I think that may be perceived as excessive by the people and may have a backlash on the government in the longer-term," said Nur Jazlan, who is also chairman of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.

— Picture by K.E. OoiGEORGE TOWN, March 31 — The attack on an infant full-moon party on Sunday night is believed to be a fight involving the “04” Indian gang, said Penang Police Chief Datuk Abdul Rahim Hanafi. According the Abdul Rahim, a 50-year-old man who was slashed several times in the attack by about eight assailants was just a guest in the event at a restaurant in Tanjung Tokong. “He was only trying to stop them so he was slashed,” Abdul Rahim told reporters after a promotion presentation ceremony at the Penang police headquarters this morning. “It is a fight between the Indian thug gang members,” he said.

— Picture by Choo Choy MayKUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — It’s just a day before 30 million Malaysians make history together, letting in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and flushing out the old Sales and Services Tax. Putrajaya calls it the revolutionary and transparent tax system that will diversify the government’s income source, economists sigh with relief at this long-awaited economic reform, the federal opposition caution that the poorer Malaysians will suffer amid already rising living costs. Could it be true that some items will become cheaper with the GST rate of six per cent taking the place of the old 10 per cent sales tax?

– The Malaysian Insider pic, March 31, 2015.Putrajaya will spend some RM690 million to maintain a newly-acquired private jet used by the prime minister for the next 15 years, PKR's Rafizi Ramli revealed today. He said that the cost including services to maintain an older private jet for the next seven years, the total costs for operation, maintenance and management (OMM) of both aircraft would come to a whopping RM1.098 billion. "The contract for OMM for the new ACJ320 jet shows that the costs have been set at RM46 million per year. This means that in the next 15 years, when the hire purchase agreement ends, the total OMM costs will be RM690 million," he said in a press conference at the Parliament lobby today.

— Picture by Yusof Mat IsaKUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Malaysia’s ringgit fell this month by the most in Asia amid concern that a drop in oil prices will weigh on the nation’s finances. Moody’s Investors Service yesterday said local banks’ exposure to 1MDB’s loans is “credit negative,” while Fitch Ratings warned March 18 that there’s more than a 50 per cent chance of a credit downgrade, citing government finances. “Concerns over falling oil prices and 1MDB drove the ringgit weaker,” said Suresh Kumar Ramanathan, a regional foreign-exchange strategist at CIMB Investment Bank Bhd in Kuala Lumpur.

In the wake of the arrests of senior editorial staff from news portal The Malaysian Insider (TMI) and its publisher, the head of The Edge Media group, JMM president Azwanddin Hamzah urged going after the 'owners' instead of their 'tools'.KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Malay rights group Jaringan Melayu Malaysia (JMM) called on the authorities today to take legal action against three men whom they claimed to be the masterminds of an insidious plot to “ruin” the country’s royal institution and Islam. In the wake of the arrests of senior editorial staff from news portal The Malaysian Insider (TMI) and its publisher, the head of The Edge Media group, JMM president Azwanddin Hamzah urged going after the “owners” instead of their “tools”. “The arrest of TMI three editors is insufficient as the real owners and board members of The Edge Communication Sdn Bhd is Tong Kooi Ong, Ahmad Bin Abdullah and Tan Boon Kean are free till now,” he said in a statement.

HANOI, March 31 —An adventurer has unveiled stunning footage taken using a drone of the world’s largest cave, the Hang Son Doong in Vietnam.
Ryan Deboodt took a drone inside Hang Son Doong and captured stunning footage that shows off a world

– The Malaysian Insider pic by Hasnoor Hussain, March 30, 2015.Yew Chian Hooi's Chinese medicine shop 'Ban Swee Choon' in Bukit Mertajam is opening tomorrow for the last time after 74 years in business. It will be closed for good come Wednesday, the day the goods and services tax (GST) begins implementation. The shop was founded by Yew's late father in 1941 and survived the second World War, the Japanese occupation and years of ups and downs. Yew said he did not support the government's move to implement the GST because he was not convinced that it was a good thing.

— AFP picKUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew’s death leaves Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the last of the “Machiavellian” leaders of the region, and is inviting comparison between the two men’s legacy and achievements. In one such evaluation by the Associated Press, Lee was lauded for transforming Singapore from a swampy backwater into an efficient first-world state with good governance while Dr Mahathir is described as fostering political patronage through cronyism and achieving less than his contemporary despite greater resources.

Not many were shocked at the news that Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew died on March 23, weeks after being in intensive care. The unending crowds who queued for hours to pay their last respects and the thousands of honest, poignant outpourings of grief and tributes gave those of us who were mere observers a glimpse into the mark Kuan Yew made, not just on Singapore, but on the world. Almost every accolade given to Kuan Yew has acknowledged his role in driving a tiny nation from obscurity into one of the world’s most successful economies. Article after article, and in every obituary and compliment, the success of Kuan Yew and that of Singapore – the absolute object of his passion – have been laid out for all the world to behold and, for some of us, to envy.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Perhaps you have seen the long snaking lines of shoppers or the empty shelves as Malaysia stocks up ahead of the arrival of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) tomorrow..
Traders are seeing brisk business with even big